Our history
2006
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) was established, building on the NHS Research and Development (R&D) programme and funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. The NIHR funds, enables and delivers world-leading health and social care research that improves people’s health and wellbeing, and promotes economic growth.
2007
The NIHR Maudsley BRC was established. NIHR BRCs were commissioned through an open national competition, with applications judged by an international panel of scientific experts. Our BRC is hosted by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with King’s College London.
We received three further rounds of 5-year funding from the Department of Health through NIHR – in 2012, 2017 and 2022.
April 2017
We received a £66m award taking us up to March 2022.
Following NIHR’s decision to discontinue the specialist Biomedical Research Units which operated 2011-2018, the work of the Maudsley Dementia Biomedical Research Unit (BRU-D) continued and expanded in the NIHR Maudsley BRC as a theme dedicated to dementia and related disorders.
2018
In September 2018 the NIHR Maudsley BRC co-established the NIHR Mental Health Translational Research Collaboration (TRC), bringing together leading investigators in experimental medicine and early-stage translational mental health research from across the UK to accelerate discoveries into clinical practice.
2022
The National Institute for Health Research changes its name. To emphasise its enduring commitment to social care research, it became the ‘National Institute for Health and Care Research’. The acronym ‘NIHR’ remains unchanged.
December 2022
We received a £50m award taking us to March 2028.
The BRC will continue its work in developing new capabilities in digital therapies with a dedicated theme on this topic, alongside established and world-leading programmes on informatics, child mental health, psychosis and eating disorders. Our theme dedicated to dementia and related disorders came to a close and was absorbed into wider dementia research programmes at King’s College London.
In February 2024 the research scope of the BRC expanded with the inclusion of a Motor Neuron Disease theme, led by Professor Ammar Al-Chalabi.
2026
The NIHR celebrates its 20th year of life‑changing health and social care research. It will be marking some of its most significant past achievements, reflecting on shared successes with its partners and research community, and looking forward to the future.